Commenting article: Macedonia 'Should be Divided between Kosovo, Bulgaria' - US Official

Macedonian officials have expressed their outrage at comments from United States Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who told an Albanian TV station Macedonia should be divided and its creation was a failed project.

Its territories should be divided between neighboring states, Kosovo and Bulgaria included, Macedonian media quote him as telling Albania's Vizion Plus TV.

Bulgarian news wire BGNES quotes him as saying: "In my opinion, Macedonia is not a state. I am sorry, but it is not a state. There is such a division in their country they will never be able to live together in the future."

"This is why Kosovars and Albanians from Macedonia should be part of Kosovo, and the rest of Macedonia should be part of Bulgaria or another country to which they believe are linked."

"The idea is to keep Macedonia alive because someone 30 years ago decided it is a configuration that should come out of the dismantling of Yugoslavia," news website MKD.mk quotes him as saying.

It also notes Rohrabacher said, when asked whether Donald Trump's administration would back the idea, he has "an influence" on foreign policy and the idea "of changing the borders in the Balkans" may be up on the agenda during the next sessions.

The Foreign Ministry in Skopje has immediately demanded explanation from the US Department of State for his comments.

Being a member of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs and chair of the Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats, he causes turmoil with his comments, state-run MIA news agency reports the diplomatic service in Skopje as saying.

"We believe that the State Department will dispel any dilemma with regard to the positions presented and that it will affirm its policy toward Macedonia and the Balkans," the statement adds.

Dana Rohrabacher, who has served at the US House of Representatives since 1989, is not the first foreign official to make such statements in recent years.

In 2015, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested Macedonia should be partitioned, with the west going to Albania and the east being given to Bulgaria. His comments roughly coincided with a peak in the political crisis that had caught the country at the moment.

Albanians are not fresh and illegal immigrants, the majority is born there and have graves of their ancestors. I do not understand reasons of dividing and liquidation of Macedonian state if its inhabitants do not want it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanians_in_the_Republic_of_Macedonia
Poland has been divided by its neighbors too...

Sad. Your comment makes me think that I was wrong and yet division of Macedonia is right. It will protect local Albanians against exile from their homes. Macedonians will be not FYROM anymore and will be automatically part of UE. Surely you know benefits of being UE members on examples of Slovenia and Croatia. You do not need Macedonian – Bulgarian translators, so communication would be easy. So it remains to convince Bulgarians that it would be the right move…

EU is soon gone, you are day-dreaming of some idyllic union which never existed. After Brexit comes Frexit n that is doom of EU.

Tbh Albanians don't belong in the Balkans, during population exchanges with Ottomans, Albanians should have been sent to Asia minor, would have been best for us and them. Albania is a fake state created by the Italians, it has never existed before, it only exists as a way to attack other Balkan countries with instability, that is their sole function, to control all of us.

From the Greek point of view, Slavs do not belong to Balkans and should be send to Asia (?). I'm Polish and I see very positive changes in my country since joining UE. They refund us 70% of infrastructure building costs. We are free to travel and work within UE, Tahiti included.

Not true. EU, including Poland and USA industry is declining because of East Asia success. They produce cheaper and not worse. Cars, electronics, ships.Almost everything. It is our fault. Despite tough competition Czechs are selling their cars. Our shipyards and British in Southampton has been closed because of Hyundai. It is better to work abroad than to sit unemployed at home.

Bulgaria news
Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily online newspaper "Sofia Morning News."
Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) and Sofia Morning News publish the latest economic, political and cultural news that take place in Bulgaria.
Foreign media analysis on Bulgaria and World News in Brief are also part of the web site and the online newspaper.
News Bulgaria